Sven-Goran Eriksson to hit the ground running?

[davieG]

Source - http://www.guardian....goran-eriksson?

Leicester City bank on Sven-Goran Eriksson to hit the ground running

The Swede's initial impact had fans looking at promotion but results have tailed off and turned attention towards next season

In January the Barnsley manager, Mark Robins, called Leicester City "the best team in the division". The Queens Park Rangers manager, Neil Warnock, said they were "as good as anyone we have played against". Last weekend Tony Mowbray even likened them to Manchester United. While United are coming good at the right time, on course for a famous treble, Leicester achieved two trebles in their draw at the Riverside Stadium last weekend. Three goals scored, three conceded and just a single point to show for a game they led 3-1, leaving them twelfth in theChampionship.

Sven-Goran Eriksson's first five months in charge saw Leicester make a steady rise up the Championship table, initially relying on a formidable home record before adding a run of excellent away form in the New Year. After seven wins and a draw in the league to begin 2011, there was even talk of second place. Then, just when everything was going right, it went horribly wrong. Leicester scored a goal that Leicester never score. Andy King's strike at Pride Park was a goal of Premier League quality that confirmed their superiority over their neighbours Derby County. Surely nothing would top it. Sure enough, nothing since has.

The move swept from back to front, from right to left, the ball switching from the possession of Leicester's goalkeeper, Ricardo, swiftly into the net of his opposite number Stephen Bywater via a series of incisive passes and then King's finish with the outside of his right foot. Coming in first-half stoppage time of a game they already led through a piece of individual brilliance from Yakubu Ayegbeni, it was a goal that won an important encounter.

Derby decided that enough was enough. In the second half Nigel Clough's side turned the tables with a battling display that demonstrated to the rest of the Championship how to play against Eriksson's men. Press, hustle, harry. In short, get stuck in. Bristol City followed the formula the following Friday and cruelly lost to an injury-time goal. Since then Leicester have won once in seven games, losing to three of the top six they looked set to challenge for so long. So what has gone wrong?

Although a manager of tremendous repute with a wealth of silverware to look back on, Eriksson does not fit the typical mould of a successful Championship boss. The current table tells its own story, its upper reaches populated by clubs that have employed either promising young managers who have prospered in the lower leagues (Simon Grayson, Paul Lambert, Eddie Howe) or older heads with proven track records in the second tier (Neil Warnock, Dave Jones, Billy Davies). Eriksson is none of these and, despite vast experience at the top level, there is a sense that he remains on a steep learning curve .

Throughout the season the Swede has chopped and changed the Leicester rearguard, briefly replacing the goalkeeper Chris Weale with England's international tournament nemesis Ricardo and loaning a series of young Premier League defenders. Temporary fixes have dominated a season of change. Even less than a fortnight ago, with the play-offs seemingly a long shot, Diomansy Kamara was drafted in from Fulham to join another loanee Yakubu. There has been much conjecture about the wage packets being picked up by players belonging to other clubs at Leicester's expense and a growing minority of supporters are concerned at the sums which have been thrown about with promotion an increasingly distant dream.

This is not to say that Eriksson is failing. The style of play he has encouraged has, broadly speaking, achieved results with attractive, attacking football and the team's general fitness is unrecognisable from its state of disrepair early in the season, the legacy of Paulo Sousa. The former England manager's insistence on pace throughout the line-up has turned Leicester into a formidable prospect on the counter-attack, the right-back Kyle Naughton – another loanee, this time from Tottenham Hotspur – thriving with five goals from open play.

However, since that glorious first half at Pride Park, Leicester's key performers have lost form. Richie Wellens and Andy King have struggled to impose themselves on games and Yakubu's hat-trick at Middlesbrough represented his first successful shots on goal since the opening goal against Bristol City in the middle of February. Wellens has recently signed a new contract and Leicester fans hope that King will follow suit. Yakubu's future is less certain.

While the club retain an outside chance of a play-off place, talk at the Walkers Stadium is already turning to next season and the expectation that Eriksson's continued presence at the helm will inspire Leicester to hit the ground running. Supporters are clear about the need for permanency. If the club were to receive a pound every time the term "settled side" is used before next season, they would quickly start to claw back the millions spent on Premier League loans during the current campaign.

For the moment seven games remain and seven points is the only gap that matters.

[MrSpaM]

Nice to see the papers still seem to think we've spent an unsustainably crazy amount of millions on loan players

[Dan]

One of the most spot on articles I've read, summarised my thoughts entirely.

[Dom_Harborough Fox]

One of the most spot on articles I've read, summarised my thoughts entirely.

Likewise

[The Sven Revolution]

very good article, well balanced. Even this guy hasn't given up on us reaching the play offs yet..why should we! Lets win the next 2 home games...its still possible.

[dave the caveman]

Nice read.

A season of change... when was the last time we couldn't say that?

[ajthefox]

Decent article, agree with pretty much everything although the "we've spent millions" thing is a little tired.

[Bayfox]

Well written article, i think the most telling thing is, how other Managers see us at the moment, If we can get our signings sorted early in the summer and give Sven a pre-season with these players, remember there is no world cup or euros this summer so all our players should get a decent rest, then start like a train next year, then other teams start to fear you, I don't think qpr are miles better than us, but a bit of confidence shows what can happen.

[ScouseFox]

Nice article, agree with it really. Nobody could see where we were going to go wrong after our run, but it's all fallen apart.

Leicester scored a goal that Leicester never score.